Archive for June, 2010

This is a public service message for all Muslim brothers and sisters out there. If you already adhere to this type of thinking then that is great, otherwise please heed this message. It is not something that I came up with but rather it is the teaching of Prophet Muhammad (pbuh).

(i) I have noticed that some people tend to think that you can only be religious if you look unhappy or if you have a frown on your face. Something like the following would do.

(ii) What these people do not realize is that the Prophet (peace be upon him) said that, “Your smiling in the face of your brother is charity.” Something like the following would do.

(iii) Some people can overdo the smile and turn it into the creey MSA brother smile. By that I mean the following.

So brothers and sisters, friends and enemies, please refrain from having he Grouchy Muslim look and the Creepy MSA brother smile as well. Islam is about moderation.

There was a time when people has to actually sit down and think about writing satire or social commentary but the world has changed so much now. News these days can be its own satire and the absurdity of current events can be their own commentary. One such event happened just a few weeks ago in Manhattan when scores of people were protesting the construction of a Mosque close to the 9/11 site. To prove my point, instead of giving any commentary I will just excerpt from a news story.

(i) NEW YORK — Richie Mitzner of Fort Lee revved up his motorcycle and headed for Ground Zero on Sunday to proudly declare himself an “American Infidel.” He was not joking. As a hot, humid wind blew off New York Harbor, Mitzner joined some 500 others to stir up a rhetorical whirlwind of protest against a proposal to build a mosque and Islamic cultural center near the site of America’s bloodiest terror attack. Unfortunately, this is what Ground Zero has now become — a scene of protests.

(ii) At one point, a portion of the crowd menacingly surrounded two Egyptian men who were speaking Arabic and were thought to be Muslims.

(iii) “Go home,” several shouted from the crowd.

“Get out,” others shouted.

In fact, the two men – Joseph Nassralla and Karam El Masry — were not Muslims at all. They turned out to be Egyptian Coptic Christians who work for a California-based Christian satellite TV station called “The Way.” Both said they had come to protest the mosque.

“I’m a Christian,” Nassralla shouted to the crowd, his eyes bulging and beads of sweat rolling down his face.

(iv) But it was no use. The protesters had become so angry at what they thought were Muslims that New York City police officers had to rush in and pull Nassralla and El Masry to safety.

“I flew nine hours in an airplane to come here,” a frustrated Nassralla said afterward.

The incident underscores how contentious — and, perhaps, how irrational — the debate over the mosque has become.

This should be in the hall of shame but unfortunately this actually happened. The names and places in this story have been changed. The appearance of the people involved have been changed as well. I can assure you that the faces of the lego characters bear no resemblance to the people involved in this incident including me (It would be weird if it did.)

(i) A long long time ago, actually not that long, around 2002-03 timeframe. One day I was hanging out in my apartment with my friend Saeed on a leisurely Friday evening.

(ii) My roommate seemed to be getting ready for going out somewhere as he passed by us. My other rommate was in the shower so he is not in the frame. I usually hung out at home with Saeed on Friday nights, was not really an outdoor person back in the days. Saeed asked him, “Whats going on bro? Where are you guys going?”

(iii) My roommate Abbas replied, “O nothing, we are going to the strip club.” Saeed seemed a bit concerned after hearing thi, so he said in a non-lecturing tone, “Abbas I know that your father is a good and pious person. How do you think he would react if he heard about this?” To this Abbas replied, “I tell my father whatever I do. Besides, Saeed you have no right to lecture me on this since you also talk to your fiance on the phone and in Islam we know that it is haram to talk to a non-mehram woman for any reason at all.” This was perhaps the only time in my life when I felt that I was speechless. Saad and I did not say anything at all. Both of my roommates did go there that night. I felt like banging my head on the wall after hearing such. Just in case you folks are wondering I can actually testify to the fact that Saeed did not talk anything haram with his wife, justtalked about stuff related to how to raise kids islamically, how to deal with family, living in a non-Muslim majority country etc.